eye makeup

The Eye Shadow Tag

~ stashy ~ 32 Comments

Immediately after I did The Lipstick Tag, I thought – hey, why isn’t there an Eye Shadow Tag?  I’m not really a lipstick girl, but I love me some eye shadows!  I’ve seen a Perfect Palette Tag on YouTube but I’m not really a palette gal either, so I decided to make some modifications to The Lipstick Tag and came up with The Eye Shadow Tag! 😀

The Rules

  1. Tag 3 bloggers to answer these same questions.
  2. Those bloggers will TAG 3 more bloggers of their choice with the same questions & rules.
  3. No tag backs.

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Lash Curlers, Combs and More

~ stashy ~ 29 Comments

It may not come as a shock to you that I’m obsessed with lash curlers.  At one point I owned no less than 20 of them – I finally had to give a bunch away that didn’t suit my eye shape.
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I’m not here to recommend a universal eyelash curler that will fit everyone, but as a general rule, I’ve found that curlers from Asian brands will better suit Asian shaped eyes (less curved).  The exception to this rule is the cult favourite Shu Uemura curler, which I find to be quite curved, with a similar curvature to Revlon and Tweezerman curlers.  I’ve since given my Shu Uemura away.  I was also disappointed that the pretty Anna Sui curler didn’t work for my eye shape – again, too curved.  Through trial and error, I’ve narrowed down the handful of eyelash curlers that I love.

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Mascara topcoat: Clarins vs bareMinerals

~ stashy ~ 21 Comments

I use a mascara topcoat from time to time, when the non-waterproof mascara I’m using isn’t as water resistant or long wearing as I need it for the day.  Why don’t I just wear a waterproof mascara to begin with, you say?  Let me tell you a couple of reasons:
1) Waterproof mascaras are too harsh for me to wear daily – removing it causes my lashes to fall out more
2) Waterproof mascaras are hydrophobic, meaning it does not dissolve in water, however, by that very nature, it has oleophillic properties, meaning it dissolves in oil.  What happens when someone with oily eyelids wears a waterproof mascara?  Smudge city.

So my solution has been to add a mascara topcoat whenever the occasion calls for it.  Here’s a cross section of how wearing a mascara topcoat solves the above 2 issues I have regarding just using waterproof mascara:
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Prestige My BIGGEST Lashes mascara

~ stashy ~ 18 Comments

The Prestige My BIGGEST Lashes mascara has got be the largest mascara wand I’ve ever seen.  But it’s not about the size that matters, am I right? 😉
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From Prestige Cosmetic’s site:

My Biggest Lashes creates full body, high-volume lashes in a single stroke. The instant lash drama that won’t smudge, clump, or flake.

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Mascara Base: Shiseido vs Dr. Mascara Fixer

~ stashy ~ 38 Comments

Continuing with Lash Week, today I’ll be looking at mascara bases.  What is a mascara base?  It’s like a primer for your lashes.  I didn’t believe the hype until I received a gwp sample of the Shiseido, and then I became a convert.
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Late last year, I ordered a Korean mascara base by Etude House that had been highly reviewed online, which costs $9 each, vs $25 for the Shiseido one.  Let’s see how they stack up against each other.

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Mini mascaras, mini reviews

~ stashy ~ 30 Comments

This post kicks off “Lash Week” on my blog!  I will be posting products and tools catering just to eye lashes, one of my most obsessed over facial features.  Like most of you, I’ve got a stash of mini mascaras through gwp and beauty sets.  This year I’ve been making a conscious effort to go through mine to see if there are any hidden gems among the lot.

I trialed the following 4 mini mascaras for one week each:
Buxom Sculpted Lash – $24 (Sephora)
Clinique High Impact – $19 (Sephora, department stores, Beauty Boutiques)
Benefit They’re Real! – $29 (Sephora, Beauty Boutiques)
Shiseido Perfect Defining Volume – $30 (Sephora, department stores, Beauty Boutiques, select Rexalls)
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The value of the samples are actually quite good when you look at the full sized price and how many ml you get in the samples:
minimascarareviews2

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My favourite pre-made eye shadow palettes

~ stashy ~ 33 Comments

Maybe I’m being too loose with the term “palette” since most of my favourites are just quads – but I suppose they fall under the umbrella of palettes? To me, a palette is anything more than a duo – so trios, quads, and quints all qualify.  What I’m trying to say is that I do not like large scale pre-made palettes. I know that within a palette, I will always end up with at least one dud, and the more shades within a palette, the higher the odds are that I will end up with many duds (so no, I do not own any of the Urban Decay Naked palettes!)
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My criteria for a good palette is one that I like most, if not all, of the shades, and one that I can create a nearly complete eye look from. They’re great for travelling and those days when I just want a one stop shop for my eye shadow look.  Here are my favourite pre-made eye shadow palettes.

Which palettes made the cut? Keep reading

Eye shadow stash

~ stashy ~ 69 Comments

Here’s the motherlode.  I’ve mentioned many times that I have a lot of eye shadows – over 600 – it is the most abundant makeup category that I own.  I just love eye shadows and it’s the area of my face that I spend the most time applying makeup.  I’ll keep this introduction brief and just let the pictures do the talking.

It took me over 2 hours just to sort and photograph the whole eye shadow collection and probably another 4 to edit everything.  Usual disclaimer: this isn’t meant to show off.  It was actually quite a beneficial exercise for me to display all my eye shadows visually.   Warning: photo heavy post! (50 images)

Brace yourself, eye shadows galore this way

MAC Extra Dimension Eyeshadow will be PERMANENT!

~ stashy ~ 22 Comments

I just saw on Allura Beauty that MAC is making the Extra Dimension Eyeshadows permanent!  You may recall from my Top 10 MAC eye shadows post that I love this formula and one of the shades in my top 10 is an Extra Dimension formula.
MAC-Extra-Dimension-Eyeshadow-2015-Summer
I won’t regurgitate Allura Beauty’s post here, but the pertinent details are:
• Price: $20.00 UDD / $24.00 CAD
• Availability: Online April 30th, 2015; in-stores on May 7th, 2015 (North America); May 2015 (international)
• 18 colour collection: all shades have been released as limited edition shades previously, no new shades

Keep reading for shade information and images

Sephora VIB sale sharing

~ stashy ~ 33 Comments

Relax, relax, I didn’t break my No-Buy.  I didn’t want my VIB discount to go to waste so I offered it to my friends and co-workers.  I did end up buying 1 item for myself, but it’s within the allowance of my No-Buy, since it is a replacement item.  First, I placed an order online, for the following:
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Purchasing that Nars concealer for my friend was gut-wrenching for me because I really wanted to buy it for myself too! (I would need the shade “Custard” for myself). Keep reading for more Sephora VIB sale haulin’